Game board



March 14, 1939. M|TH 2,150,850

GAME BOARD Filed April 27, 1937 2 Sheets-Sheet l LEWIS FaSM 11' March 14, 1939. F, $M|TH 2,150,850

7 GAME BOARD Filed April 2'7, 1957 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 FIG. 2

zswucwm LEWIS F. SMITH UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE GAME BOARD Lewis Frederick Smith, New Haven, Conn.

Application April 27,

6 Claims.

This invention relates to game boards and, among other objects, aims to provide a novel board especially designed for playing card games of skill and chance simulating poker. The main idea is to provide a board having a playing surface with means to hold played cards in checkered rows at right angles to each other extending from top to bottom and from left to right, five in a row, so that the hands produced by playing twenty-five cards, in any chosen order as they are turned up or called by a dealer, may be read longitudinally, transversely and diagonally to determine the point score or winner.

Another aim is to provide an improved board of this type having an associated card holding portion on which all of the cards in a deck may be exposed to view in overlapping relation so that they are instantly accessible to be played.

A further aim of the invention is to provide a simplified and compact board of this type adapted to be made either in flat form or in hinged sections whereby it may be closed and carried in a brief case, suitcase or the like.

Other aims and advantages of the invention will appear in the specification, when considered in connection with the accompanying drawings,

wherein: I

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a board embodying the invention and illustrating a game played thereon;

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the board, illustrating the assembled parts;

Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken on the line 33 of Fig. 2; and

Fig. 4 is a sectional view taken on the line 4-4 of Fig. 2.

Referring particularly to the drawings, game boards of the type shown are designed to be used by one or more persons to play 'a game simulating poker, but using twenty-five cards for each complete hand. In a group game, each player plays twenty-five cards like the ones dealt by an appointed dealer, by placing them in checkered rows, five in a row, and in any order that he may choose, the idea being to produce various poker hands in as many rows as possible,-reading the played hands or rows from top to bottom, left to right and diagonally. In a solitaire game, the player will play the cards as he deals them. After a complete hand has been played, the score may be counted by comparing the prearranged point value of each type of poker hand with the various hands actually produced. Each board has a playing surface to hold the played cards and an associated or integral card holding and rack 1937, Serial No. 1390307 portion for an entire deck of cards whereby a group of players may arrange or rack up their cards, preferably in overlapped relation, to be played as rapidly as the dealer calls or shows the cards being dealt from a shuilie deck.

In the illustrated example, the board is rectangular and is formed of a flat sheet or sheets of any suitable stiff material, such as cardboard, leather, wood or the like, providing a playing section l and a card holding section II, shown as having a central hinge line l2 so that the sections may be folded together like a book and held open in the position shown in Fig. 1 with the playing section lying flat on a table or in a player's lap and the card holding section upright, not only to serve as a shield to conceal the played cards from an opponent, but also to keep the unplayed cards in convenient reach.

The playing face of the section [0 is shown as comprising a face sheet ill of cardboard or the like having individual card-receiving slots I4 arranged in checkered rows, five in a row both ways. Behind the slotted sheet I 3 is a second or backing sheet l5 preferably glued or cemented to the board section l0 and having twenty-five punched out rectangular openings l6 corresponding to the slots and separated by ribs l1 and I8. As shown in Figs. 2 and 4, the slots ll in the face sheet 13 register with the respective openings l6 near their top edges, the arrangement being such that individual card holding pockets are provided and the imperforate portions of the sheet l3 between the rows of slots from top to bottom serve as card retainers. Also, the upper edges of the ribs ll, forming the bottoms of the pockets serve as stops for the inserted cards. Moreover the distance between the slots up and down the rows and the depth of the pockets are shown as being such that the inserted cards may overlap longitudinally and the exposed faces of the cards are easily identified.

The card holding or rack section II of the board is shown in Figs. 2 and 3 as having a face sheet [9 presenting four card receiving slots 20 and this sheet is secured to a backing sheet 2| on the back section having four vertically spaced rectangular openings 22 separated by ribs 23. The cooperating sheets are so arranged as to provide four longitudinal pockets. However, the distances between the slots 20 are preferably somewhat greater than the distances between the slots in the playing section. The length of the slots 20 is such as to provide ample space for racking up the cards of the several suits or kinds in laterally overlapped relation with each card sufllciently exposed to be identified at a glance.

Referring now to an illustrative-use of the board to play a game simulating poker with ordinary playing cards, four boards and four decks of cards will constitute an average set; although any number may be used in a game. All ofthe players except the dealer will rack up their cards in the card holding or rack sections by inserting the cards of the different suits in any desired order, preferably numerically. The dealer then shuiiles his deck and deals one'card at a time. He. calls each card or shows it'and then 'plays it by inserting it in any chosen pocket in the playing surface of his board. Each of the other players removes a corresponding card and plays it in any pocket that he chooses. After a card is played, it may not be removed before the game is completed.

This procedure is repeated until twenty-five cards\ the greatest varieties of poker hands in the several rows. The left vertical row shows a royal diamond flush, the top longitudinal row shows a full house, one diagonal row shows a straight, etc. Incidentally, it is not necessary that the cards in any row shall be played in any particular order, because each row can be treated as a complete poker hand.

After the score and the winner of a game are determined, an auxiliary game may be played while the players are racking up their cards. The dealer may take a pilot deck of cards, shuiiie and deal them, one at a time, and require each of the players to remove corresponding cards found on the playing surface, to be returned in the desired order to the card holding section. As this pro- I cedure is continued, the player who first exposes a row or flush" of five blank spaceson his board may be declared the winner. Incidentally, the spaces on the playing surface may have printed or other suitable indicia on them to make it easy to identify a flush of this kind.

From the foregoing description, it will be seen that the novel game board is very simple and compact in its design and provides for playing many attractive games simulating poker. It is by no means limited to the use of ordinary playing cards for playing such games. It may be folded up and stored away in a small compartment of a suitcase, portfolio or the like. Such boards will be especially attractive to travelers and vacationists and may be used to play a variety of games in homes and elsewhere.

Obviously, the present invention is not restricted to the particular embodiment thereof herein shown and described. Moreover, it is not indispensable that all the features of the invention be used conjointly, since they may be employed advantageously in various combinations and sub-combinations.

What is claimed is:

1. A board for card games simulating poker comprising a fiat back portion; a rectangular backing sheet on one face of said back having punched-out openings arranged in checkered rows, five in a row, and presenting ribs between the openings; and a face sheet on the backing sheet having individual card receiving slots entering said openings at 'one side whereby said openings and ribs provide pockets for the inserted cards to leave portions of their faces exposed in both checkered and diagonal rows.

2.. A card game board comprising, incombina-' nected to said game section and movable to form a concealing shield for the cards played on said game section, said second section being provided on its interior surface with a plurality of elongated slots disposed in parallelism with the connected edges of said sections, each vof said slots being of sufilcient length to receive 'all the cards of one suit disposed in overlapping relation so that all of the cards of a deck may be exposed to the view of a' player and arranged as suits in their proper sequence to provide instant accessibility to the card to be played and to enable a ready indication of the cards played, said game section being provided on its interior surface with a plurality of card-receiving pockets arranged in at least five vertical columns disposed transversely to the elongated slots in said second section, said columns of pockets consisting of the same number of horizontal rows of pockets as there are vertical columns so that every card removed from said second section and inserted in one of said pockets will be common at least to both a vertical column and a horizontal row, and a card inserted in at least nine of said pockets will in addition be included in a diagonal column whereby a combination of hands is produced equal in number to the number of columns, plus the number of rows, plus two diagonal columns.

4. A board for card games simulating poker comprising a rectangular game section and a rectangular card holding section of substantially the same size as andjhingedly connected to one edge of the game section and providing a players shield, said sections being adapted to be closed book-fashion, both sections having stiff backing sheets with paper inside facing sheets secured thereto, the facing sheet for the game section having twenty-five slots arranged in both ver-' tical and horizontal rows of five slotsin each row, individual vertical card-receiving pockets being provided below and opening through each slot of such depth and so arranged that when cards are inserted therein they are partially exposed to be read at a glance in twelve rows of five cards each, two of which rows are diagonal, all of the inserted cards being distributed over substantially the entire playing area, and said face sheet on the card holding section having aplurality of longitudinal slots parallel with the slots in the playingsection, vertical pockets coextensive with and opening through said elongated slots, each pocket being of such length as to hold the cards in a suit in laterally overlapped relation and being of such depth that inserted cards are partially exposed for instant reading, whereby any called or chosen card may be removed without disturbing the remaining cards and played on the playing section.

5. A board for card games simulating poker comprisinga flat sheet of stiff material having.

an uninterrupted surface and forming a backing for the board; a facing sheet overlying said backing sheet and connected thereto, said facing sheet having a playing field containing twenty-five slots arranged in both vertical and horizontal rows of five slots in each row-and through which. playing cards may be inserted into the spaces between said backing and facing sheets; and a plurality of elongated stop means disposed intermediate said backing and facing sheets in spaced relation and connecting the two together, each of said step means extending transversely to the vertical rows of slots from the outer edge of the firs row to the outer edge of the last row and forming a stop for the cards inserted in a horizontal row of slots, said stop means and the slots beingv so arranged with respect to the playing field that, when cards are inserted in the slots, they are partially exposed to be read at a glance in twelve rows of five cards each, two of which are diagonal and the exposed portions of such I section connected to said game section and movable to form a concealing shield for the cards played on said game section, each of said sections comprising a flat backing sheet of stiff material having an uninterrupted surface and a facing sheet overlying said backing sheet and connected thereto, the facing sheet for the game section having a playing field containing twentyfive slots arranged in both vertical and horizontal rows of five cards in each row and through which playing cards may be inserted into the spaces between said facing sheet and its associated backing sheet and the facing sheet of said card holding section having a plurality of longitudinal slots of suflicient length to receive all the cards of one suit disposed in overlapping relation, said game and card holding sections each having a plurality of spaced elongated stop means disposed intermediate and connecting the backing and facing sheets thereof, the stop means of said card holding section being disposed in parallelism with the slots thereof and forming stops for cards inserted in said slots so that such cards are partially exposed for instant reading in their overlapped condition and the stop means of said game section extending transversely to the vertical rows of slots in the facing sheet thereof and each forming a stop for the cards in a horizontal row of slots, said stop 

